My Only Sunshine
by Mio-san
Summary: "Please don't take my sunshine away..." Oneshot for Nyo!Ameripan. Rated T for violent implications and subject matter.


**A/N: A quick oneshot written for Ameripan and the coming days of summer.**

**Based on a tumblr post by whitecrippledwings.**

…

_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine_

…

_The sky was dark; she couldn't see the sun. Screams buffeted her ears, crisp and frightening in their clarity, and amidst a slew of cursing, someone began to sob. Their weeping was heavy and constant—but why were they so sad? Why was it like night in the middle of the day? And where had everyone gone? Her limbs ached, and she felt something cool tracing a gentle pattern down her temple. It felt like water… but it hadn't rained. The sky had been perfectly clear. Such a beautiful day…_

…

_You make me happy when skies are gray_

…

_Their house was ruined; she found the landscape reminiscent of a wasteland, and everything around her had been reduced to dust. Here and there she imagined she saw someone, straggling through the desolation, but no one called out to her, and no one offered to help. She was alone, searching for a sign of hope, and the person who had smiled at her minutes before the world shattered was gone._

…

_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you_

…

_She found him, but she wished she hadn't. Burns scorched the side of his body, blistering angrily on his pale skin, and the dark hair she loved to run her fingers through was now in shambles. His eyes horrified her even further—they were open, but so empty, so vacant, that she felt as if their melted-chocolate color was dragging her inwards like quicksand. It grabbed her, pulling her down at an impossible rate, wrapping its arms around her and leaving her to dissolve in a stifling pool of grief._

"_Oh, no. Please, baby, no. Oh, God, please no."_

_She knew Japanese like the back of her hand, but the English words spilled out of her like a waterfall. Then came her tears—at first soft, gathering at the corner of her eyes and slipping down her cheeks, but then in torrents, as if a hurricane of emotions was clamoring to burst out of her. Her voice seemed to render itself useless, but still she sobbed, breath forcing its way out of her mouth in ugly, choking, rasping sounds. Hands clutched at his chest and skimmed over the burns, the bruises, the trails of blood that seemed to split apart his porcelain skin. It couldn't be happening. Not to her. Not to him._

"_No, no, please no, I love you, come back to me, baby please…"_

_They had been prepared. "Just duck and cover," the television cheerfully informed them, and they had been ready. They practiced, too, and sometimes he would wrap his arms around her and lay there, curled up with her, in silence on the wooden floor._

_But it had happened too quickly for that. There was no time to duck and cover, to grasp the other's hands, to look into their eyes and say "I love you," if only for the last time. There was only that blinding flash of light, and the loud snapping sound of a thousand lives as they were ripped apart from the core._

_It was by coincidence that they were sitting in the one room of the house without windows. By coincidence that she had slipped into the basement to grab a bottle of sake, for only a moment. By coincidence that he had remained upstairs, waiting for her with the same soft, gentle smile on his face and a peace of mind unachieved by anyone else._

_By coincidence._

_She knew that flash of light from numerous drills, and when it had hit, she had dropped the sake. It shattered all over the floor and soaked into her clothes as she huddled in the corner, her fingernails digging into the concrete and her mouth moving in a silent prayer. Near death experiences could make anyone believe in God. Granted, she had converted to Buddhist, but her country's influence remained._

_When it had quieted, she had emerged from the mangled doorway to find it to be the only thing left standing. The entire house—no, the entire city had been leveled, and it was nothing but dust and despair for as far as she could see._

_He had been covered in glass shards and bits of broken wood. Ash obscured his face, making it appear a pasty gray that gave her the impression of a rotting corpse._

_How could she have known that it was exactly what he would become?_

"_Oh, God, I'm begging you, please don't do this. Not now. Not now. No, no, no. Oh my God, oh God, no."_

_But she swore that she could hear her heart crack into three pieces when she found it in his pocket. Untouched by ash, glimmering in the tease of daylight. A ring. Simple, a single diamond set at its center. Iridescent colors danced off its surface and pranced into the air with a joyful innocence._

_She hugged it to her chest and screamed. Just screamed, not cursed or wailed, but shrieked until her lungs gave out and she was left sitting hopelessly in the remains of what would have been a beautiful future._

_Her mouth was covered with a hygienic mask, but she envisioned radiation seeping into her body and sweeping her away._

_She would do anything to be with him again._

_And an hour later, that's where the paramedics found her—silent, still, unmoving, like a statue at his side, as if paying tribute to the one person she truly loved._

...

Her eyes snapped open and she gasped for breath, reaching out and wrinkling the sheets that lay vacant beside her. Struggling upright, she squinted in the early morning light and looked frantically around the room before the reality of her dream hit her like a bullet.

_In loving memory…_

It was the fifth of June, 1948, sunlight dappled the streets, and her chrysanthemum was gone.

Her breath caught in her throat and she huddled against the bedframe, pulling her comforter to her chest with scarred fingertips and feeling a hot wave of tears build up behind her tightly shut eyelids. A tiny whimper escaped her lips, and she shuddered violently as grief assaulted her and filled her mouth with the bitter taste of loss.

Outside her open window, a mourning dove cried.

…

_Please don't take my sunshine away._

…

**A/N: R&R!**


End file.
